I myself do not pay for GPT plus because I barely need most of the features besides image generation but if there's one thing I've observed is that AI is becoming more expensive and I'm thinking the price of ChatGPT Plus may just double over the next five years.
This increase in the price is expected because running advanced AI systems costs a lot of money to do. When you look at an image generation platform like mid journey, they used to offer a free access through their discord but now they can barely manage the number of users and the cost of running the servers so it has become a paid thing which just like Gpt plus will also increase.
Speaking of mid journey, I tried so many times to enter their discord page and at least test a sample but that didn't work and I kept ending up on a pay to subscribe page. I felt very disappointed because it's not like I'm going to make money with the AI images I generate, I was only using it for testing to see which AI tool is great. They said it's about 10 dollars for a month, it looks cheap but for something you won't get a return from, I don't think it's Worth it.
OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, is currently spending billions to keep improving its models. We are all awaiting GPT 5 and it's got more capabilities than Gpt-4 which probably means more demand on the servers. If the cost of running the servers increase, who do you think will have to offset the cost? We the users.
Even though they make money from millions of users and paid subscribers, they are still losing more than they actually earn.
As AI technology improves with companies like Nvidia, Open AI and Elon Musk's xAI doing their very best to advance their AI, it also becomes more expensive to develop and maintain. OpenAI has planned to raise the price of ChatGPT Plus to $44 a month by 2029. That's like 5 years from now so hopefully at that time, it'll be so useful that many will see the need to spend that kind of cash.
This might not surprise users since other digital services also increase prices over time. But I think it will be important for OpenAI to continue adding value, such as new features, if they expect users to keep paying otherwise that'll be the downfall of the company.
For now, the Open AI GPT service remains popular, but time will tell how people respond to higher costs and also with more companies entering the AI industry, the competition will be very high and Open AI might be forced to reduce price to stay in the competition and to stay relevant.